NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant at the concluding day of Textiles India 2017 held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat highlighted the importance of exports in the textile sector and the ease of doing business in India. He said that if India has to grow rapidly, it cannot grow without exports. They still import a lot of raw material like laces, buttons, elastics etc, which makes production expensive for the (clothing) manufacturers.

There is a need to digitise the entire value chain of the textile industry and that the industry can be boosted with a culture of collaboration and innovation. He said that he’s not a believer of subsidies and added that the country needs to move from “job-protecting labour laws” to “job-creating labour laws.”

Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman, NITI Aayog iterated a similar view during the valedictory session, where he also said that the allegations of “jobless growth” are logically incorrect. However, he admitted that the jobs in the formal sector are in short supply.

Speaking about making India a sourcing hub and investment during a panel discussion, Sitharaman said that the focus should be on promoting niche areas that cover indigenous artisans, weavers and craftsmen, as they provide a unique identity to the country’s textile output. She added that in the industry’s efforts to match up to the demand for man-made fibre, the focus has shifted away from these niche areas and that these need to be promoted.

Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Radha Mohan Singh, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ajay Tamta and Nirmala Sitharaman attended the final day of Textiles India 2017. A number of panels constituting the ministers, industry representatives and senior officials of NITI Aayog talked about the roadmap for the sector aiming at increasing its global market share.

Naidu credited Irani for bringing vibrancy into the sector, which used to be “reserved for the ministers, who are to be sidelined. He emphasised the need to let the industry have a say in the country’s development. They have to encourage the trade. Unfortunately, because of their political mindsets, politicians have developed some sort of allergy to the business. They believe that the industry also has a rightful place in the development of the country.